Electric bike: Bafang says goodbye to speeds with its automatic transmission

The Chinese engine manufacturer Bafang, which equips many bicycle manufacturers, has just launched a three-speed automatic transmission system that simplifies the practice of electric bicycles.

Bafang has developed a new three-speed automatic transmission system. The system can equip any type of bike, but it is on electric bikes that it should be all the rage. Indeed, many pedelec users hardly use their shifter any more, preferring to play on the assistance, at the risk of damaging the transmission. To circumvent this problem, nothing better than to make the manual gears disappear and to opt, as in a car, for an automatic transmission. The solution is not new, players such as Enviolo also offer automatic hub transmissions, but this time it is Bafang, a manufacturer known for its aggressive prices, which will offer its own solution.

Indeed, better known for its engines, the Chinese supplies many cycle manufacturers, whether Intersport, Decathlon, Le Vélo Mad or even Reine Bike. Its advantage? Its prices are much more accessible than those of Bosch (which also imposes a certain volume of sales to provide its solutions) and its performance more than respectable. In fact, Bafang motors are found on many low-cost e-bikes. The Chinese manufacturer could therefore reproduce the same pattern with its transmission.

Simplify the practice of the electric bike

Bafang’s system is a three-speed automatic transmission that does without cable, control and sprockets. Designed to be placed on the hub of the rear wheel, the transmission works thanks to a system of gears and a torque sensor which determine the right ratio according to the speed of the bicycle and the frequency of pedalling. According to Bafang, the operation would be carried out “silently, discreetly and precisely”. The advantage of such a solution is obviously to make riding an electric bike easier by automating gear changes and reducing maintenance costs.

The hub designed by Bafang could be adapted to all types of wheels for sizes between 20 and 28 inches. I can work in concert with a motor placed at the bottom bracket (or central motor) or a front hub motor. On the other hand, insofar as it takes place on the rear wheel, it is incompatible with rear hub motors.

The manufacturer also specifies that its transmission works just as well within the limit of 25 km/h of assistance (European regulations) as at 32 km/h (American regulations). On the other hand, the transmission is limited in terms of torque and is only compatible with motors developing less than 80 Nm. No doubt this limit should be lifted as Bafang refines its transmission, but for a first model, it should already satisfy many manufacturers. The equipment manufacturer does not specify whether its system is compatible with engines other than its own or whether it reserves the distribution of its automatic transmission to bicycles equipped with in-house engines.

Will the automatic transmission make the gears disappear?

It will be interesting to see which manufacturers will integrate Bafang’s solution first and under what conditions. Indeed, the system is both compatible with a chain or a belt, but the choice of one or the other necessarily has strong consequences, whether on the choice of wheels that accompany it or on the price. It will also be interesting to observe the performance of this automatic transmission. To date, several similar solutions exist, one of them being used on a bicycle as widespread as the Cowboy for example. But until now, automatic transmissions for bicycles have struggled to gain public acceptance. When they did, with Enviolo for example, it was more often than not one on particularly expensive bikes. This is therefore Bafang’s challenge: to offer an efficient and accessible automatic transmission.

Source :

Bafang